Reviews
| [BACK] Booklist September 15, 1999 Last year's Zen and the Art of Murder starred an engaging new sleuth: Zen Moses, cigar-smoking, tough-gal PI from Santa Monica. In mystery fiction, it's not always a bad thing to be derivative. Zen is certainly that: an amalgam of the groundbreaking hard-boiled female sleuths (Kinsey Millhone, et al.) and their tough-but-funny descendants (Evanovich's Stephanie Blum), supported by a strong, silent black man called Bobo (Parker's Hawk goes L.A.). Straight formula, yes, but when executed with flair, it can still be plenty entertaining, like a 12-bar blues, and Cosin plays all the right notes. This time Zen takes a wacky missing-dog case and winds up implicated in a multiple murder involving dirty cops and dirtier high rollers, all of whom seem to carry a grudge against fast-talking PIs with cute names. The Santa Monica ambience seems just right for Zen: breezy, trendy, a touch of retro. You wouldn't want to live there, but it's a great place to visit. --- Bill Ott Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights reserved. |